Asia-Pacific markets were mixed on Monday, as investors assessed China’s weekend press briefing and awaited a slew of economic data this week from the region.
Mainland China’s CSI 300 was up 0.6% in choppy trading, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.7%.
Hang Seng Mainland Properties Index gained about 1%, while Hang Seng Tech index dropped 2.45%.
Both metrics missed expectations of economists polled by Reuters, who estimated CPI to rise 0.6% and PPI to decline 2.5%.
China watchers also look ahead to the week with a busy set of economic data, including China’s third-quarter GDP, September industrial output growth, retail sales and unemployment rate.
Asia-Pacific markets saw mixed results on Monday as traders evaluated China’s press briefing over the weekend and anticipated a barrage of regional economic data this week.
In erratic trading, the CSI 300 in mainland China gained 0.6 percent, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong dropped 0.7 percent.
In contrast to the Hang Seng Tech index, which fell by 2 points and 45 percent, the Hang Seng Mainland Properties Index increased by roughly 1%.
During a highly anticipated press conference on Saturday, China’s Finance Minister Lan Fo’an hinted at further debt issuance as part of efforts to support the country’s economy, saying the government had a “rather large” space to increase deficit.
The producer price index fell at the fastest rate in six months in September, down 2 points8 percent, while consumer prices rose at the slowest rate in three months, up 0.4 percent from a year earlier. These developments contributed to China’s growing deflationary pressures. The PPI decreased by 2.5 percent and the CPI increased by 0.6 percent, respectively, below the predictions of Reuters’ polled economists.
China is scheduled to announce its trade figures for September on Monday. Exports are predicted to increase by 6%, which is less than the 8 percent growth seen in August, while imports are predicted to increase by 0%, down from the 0% growth seen in August.
The week ahead holds a plethora of economic data that observers closely monitor, such as China’s retail sales growth, industrial output growth in September, unemployment rate, and GDP for the third quarter.
